KARACHI, March 10: Cotton prices on Thursday eased further as spinners and mills made selective covering purchases mostly of fine lots from upper Sindh and southern Punjab ginners.

Some of the private sector exporters were also in the market but their major thrust was on the central Sindh inferior stuff, which conforms to quality specifications of their foreign importers, brokers said.

But ginners are not inclined to lower their asking prices for the fine lots and offered to sell them at around Rs2,300 per maund, they said.

Some of the ginners, who still hold on to their unsold stocks of fine lots, are a bit worried over the current price fall and could not precisely decide either to hold on to their stocks or sell them at the current offered rates by the spinners.

The future price outlook appears to be not that bullish as speculated earlier, as despite heavy buying being made by China and Pakistan, prices of New York cotton futures did not react to that bullishly and are still moving either-way, market sources said.

Some of the leading ginners, who still hold stray unsold stocks of fine lots, are a bit disappointed about the future price outlook and are offering forward sales of some big lots on one-month credit, they said.

This reflects all is not well with the ginners as their higher price ideas at the fag-end of the current season did not prove correct after the spinners and mills opted for duty-free imports from various countries, they added.

Although the ginners and spinners have a fair idea about the arrival figure for the fortnight ending March 15, the former is hoping against hopes of prices recovery.

Floor brokers said daily downward revision of spot rates by the KCA rate committee had further confused the ginners and they are in two minds whether to sell or hold on to their unsold stocks.

Official spot rates were further lowered by Rs10 per maund for the third session in a row at Rs2,250, although in the physical trading, selling prices differed, notably for fine lots.

New York cotton futures rose further by 0.48 and 0.45 cents per lb at 52.00 and 53.21 cents for both the ruling May and the distant July settlement, respectively. March contract was rung-off the board after its maturity.

Ready offtake was modest totalling 7,000 bales as under: 4,000 bales, upper Sindh at Rs2,300 on one-month credit; 2,000 bales, Rahimyar Khan at Rs2,250 to Rs2,300; 200 bales, Tando Adam at Rs2,150; and 100 bales, Shahdadpur also at this rate.